A couple of weeks ago I gave a rather unfavourable review of Windows 8 based upon my experience of the ‘upgrade’ version of the operating system. I wiped the upgrade and reinstalled Windows 7; but have decided to give Microsoft’s new operating system a second chance but this time I have partitioned my hard disk drive and I am dual booting Windows 7 and 8; this write-up is being written from Windows 8 using Firefox, Internet Explorer 10 still has issues displaying this site as designed!
I still maintain that Windows 8 is designed for touchscreen devices with little thought given to the desktop user. Yes, there is a traditional desktop but it’s missing key features such as a traditional start menu, it would have been nice to keep the start menu for existing users. Having to switch between the desktop and the Metro interface is rather bothersome if you use Windows for productivity. Not to say that the Metro interface isn’t slick because it is, but fails somewhat when using third party programs such as Firefox, which reverts back to the ‘desktop’ unlike Internet Explorer which opens in a full screen chromeless window with the navigation bar at the bottom!
I can not write about Windows 8 from a touchscreen users perspective as I don’t have a touchscreen interface, but I will write about my experiences as a desktop user. With the exception of missing the traditional Windows Vista/7 start menu, the desktop works in much the same way as Windows 7/Vista, so there isn’t much to talk about there so I will talk a little about the Metro interface.
The interface itself is very slick, with it’s ability to have applications much like a tablet; transitions are smooth and pleasing to the eye. Applications can be pinned to the left or right or minimized by grabbing the top of the screen and dragged to the left, right or bottom of the screen. Features such as search, share, start screen, devices and Windows settings can be access by moving your cursor to the top or bottom right, the time, network access and battery status is also displayed on the left!
Moving the cursor to the bottom left of the screen brings up a small version of the Metro start screen, clicking on it makes it full screen. Moving the cursor to the top left, brings up the task manager, right clicking on each task allows for pinning to left or right of screen or closing the task.
Of course, having an app based eco system, means a mixture of paid and free applications, some apps have free and professional versions, the free versions often being ad supported, much like it’s Android and Apple counterparts. Personally I don’t like this type of interface on a desktop system, but I guess that’s the price of progress. Shareware has been around for years but this pushes it to the forefront in desktop computing! It’s all about relieving you of your cash one dollar at a time!
The built in mail application has the ability to integrate web mail systems such as Gmail directly into Windows with minimal fuss, Windows requires Email address and password and the OS does the rest. Google contacts and calendars are also easily integrated, possibly other systems as well but I can not confirm that as I only use Google services, we can assume that Exchange will be just as easy!
The Metro interface is easy to customise, tiles can be rearranged simply by dragging and dropping, and tiles have live abilities, which can show calendar entries, weather, latest news, most recent Email, contact images and more. Applications can be removed, or even uninstalled directly from the Metro interface by right clicking on the tile, a horizontal menu appears at the bottom of the screen!
There are still issues; lacking the ability to play DVDs out of the box; that only comes by using a third party application or purchasing Windows Media Center for $9.99; or until January, it’s free for Windows 8 Pro users. Non Windows 8 Pro users have to purchase the professional pack for $69.99.
I still doubt that I will be using Windows 8 as my primary OS; maybe I am having issues transitioning from a traditional Windows environment, but I don’t think it’s just me as I know many others feel the same. It’s certainly not best for business; as Windows 8 Pro proclaims, I suspect it’ll be some years before businesses adopt the new interface; when Windows 7 came out, many business were still using Windows XP! Anyway this is a more balanced review of Windows 8 Professional than my previous write-up. If you do choose to ‘upgrade’ I advise a clean install, upgrading causes issues.
A video from the Tek Syndicate which illustrates what I wrote above, it’s well worth a watch!